Sit at a desk all day? Wear high-heel shoes? This can be bad for the body. You may not realize it but even sitting requires your muscles to work to keep you in that position. Sitting at a desk all day can lead to muscle imbalances that affect your posture, the way you move and will lead to muscle aches and pains and even make you more susceptible to injury.

Chances are, if you find yourself sitting for more than 2 hours at a time you could suffer from tight hip flexors. The hip flexors, by being in a flexed position for too long, become tight and adaptively short. With the hip flexors shortened, it makes the muscles on the opposite side (the butt and hamstrings) weak and lengthened. Because the glutes and hamstrings are now weak, other muscles need to work extra hard to make up for it…called synergistic dominance, or muscle compensation. Sitting can also lead to rounding of the shoulders and a forward head tilt.

The same thing happens when you wear high heeled shoes. You keep the heel unnaturally elevated making the calf muscle short which can cause knee and ankle pain. High heels don’t sound so good now do they? But there is something you can do.... Make sure you incorporate stretching into your routine for the muscles that are overactive and strengthening exercises for the muscles that are weak. The following corrective exercises will help

1. If you wear high heels all day and have tight calf muscles you can do the following routine several times a week

Foam Roll (inhibit): Calf muscle and the side of the thigh (called the Tensor Fascia Latae or just TFL…it’s easier to spell)

Comments

As a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist, helping people lose weight, perform better or just teaching people how to move better so they can enjoy their day without those nagging body aches and pains is kinda what I’m into and passionate about. I teach people to understand that you don’t have to live up to an advertised standard. You are you and that is always a pretty awesome place to be! If you believe in yourself, you are capable of some incredible things.
When I design personalized fitness programs, my motto is variety is the spice of life so I add a bit of balance training, a pinch of flexibility, a couple tablespoons of core stabilization and I’ve even been known to top it off with some speed, agility and quickness workouts…I mean why should athletes have all the fun right? Then, before you even realize you’re in a fitness program, you’ve lost weight, you’re moving better and you’ve shaved a couple strokes off your golf game! A healthy life is about moving better, being able to keep up with the kids and being able to pick up the groceries, you know, the real stuff!
I also like to keep up on my reading. I mean, there is so much confusing information out there, what is the average Joe (or Jane) supposed to do. So here’s the deal, I’ll keep up with all the nerdy science stuff so that you-the client-can just concentrate on your goals as I guide you using science based, world-class exercise programming.
Oh, one more thing, NASM (that place where I got my Personal Trainer Certification) is awesome because they use the Optimum Performance Training model. It’s kind of like a road map to get anybody to any goal and it works incredibly well for people wanting to lose weight, get better at their sport or just feel and move better. If you want to know more about what I do, how I can help you or you just want some free advice, contact me and I’ll hook you up